Vatican Marks First Anniversary Of Encyclical on Environment

June 22, 2016

ROME (CNS) – Marking the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace launched a new website dedicated to the document and efforts around the world to put its teaching into practice.

The site – www.laudatosi.va – “witnesses not only to the impact of the encyclical, but also the creativity and generosity of the people of God everywhere in the world,” said Cardinal Peter Turkson, council president.

The council celebrated the first anniversary of the document, “Laudato Si’,” June 20 with a small conference at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary in Montesanto.

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, in a video message, said that as scientists, governments, economists and concerned citizens were pushing for an international agreement to combat climate change, Pope Francis’ encyclical provided the “moral imperative to take bold action.”

Published six months before the Paris summit on climate change, she said, the pope’s document raised the issue in “the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of people who may not otherwise have considered climate in their daily lives.”